AIIMS to turn its almost ready burns unit with 100 beds into Covid facility

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) will add another 100 bed for the treatment of patients with the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) at its upcoming

The All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) will add another 100 bed for the treatment of patients with the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) at its upcoming ‘Burns and Plastics’ block by the weekend.

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“There has been an increase in the number of Covid-19 cases over the last couple of weeks. Hence, we have decided to turn the almost ready Burns and Plastics unit into a Covid-19 centre. The block already has a built-in ICU and utility pipelines and can be utilised for the treatment of those with Covid-19,” Dr DK Sharma, medical superintendent, AIIMS, said.

Currently, the hospital has 725 beds at its cancer centre in Jhajjar and 265 beds at the trauma centre on Ring Road. Of these, 533 beds at the Jhajjar campus and 214 at the trauma centre are already occupied, according to data provided on the ‘Delhi Corona’ app.

As for critical care, AIIMS Jhajjar has 39 ICU beds, and the trauma centre 50. The ‘Burns and Plastics’ block will add another 30 beds to the intensive care unit.

Doctors, nurses, and technicians from the main hospital will be rejigged to man the new block. Apart from instituting proper protocols for infection control, requirement of manpower for the Jhajjar centre and the burns block was one of the reasons for the hospital not reopening its out-patient clinics.

The hospital had shut its OPD services, where over 12,000 patients used to come daily for consultations, at the beginning of the lockdown on March 25.

With cases of Covid-19 on the rise, the Delhi government is working towards making 1.5 lakh beds available for those with a severe level of the infection by July-end.